Flight Journal

D-DAY’S OPERATION OVERLORD is one of the most pivotal events of WW II and can be characterized as the greatest raid in modern history. The buildup to that day was staggering: as more than 150,000 Allied soldiers prepared to storm the beaches on June 6, 1944, thousands of airmen flying bombers and fighters had been busy hammering away at ground targets and clearing the skies of bandits during the weeks before that fateful day. Out of the 11,000 aircraft flown, 4,000 were fighters and many of those were the formidable P-51 Mustang, which performed many of the dangerous low-level strafing and ground attacks. In our feature story “Mustangs Over Normandy,” James Busha takes you in the cockpit with several D-Day P-51 pilots who reported that danger still lurked everywhere, even…

IT WAS MAY 10, 1972, when four Air Force F-4D Phantoms, using their AIM-7 Sparrow missiles, initiated a head-on engagement with a four-ship formation of MiG-21s. The MiGs had no weapons capable of engaging from a fontal aspect. Oyster Flight was part of a 28-ship F-4D prestrike MiGCAP configured to intercept any Vietnamese People’s Air Force (VPAF) MiGs that might attack the 92-plane strike force that followed. The target was the Paul Doumer Bridge, part of the highway network from China into Hanoi. Disco, an EC-12 1 radar aircraft, had warned of MiG-21 “Fishbeds” departing the VNAF’s Kep Air Base near Hanoi. In addition, Red Crown, which provided radar coverage from the USS Chicago, manned by Radioman Larry Nowell, reported four separate MiG elements just getting airborne. After repeatedly feinting…

XF-4H-1 Original production, rollout May 8, 1958: selected by the U.S. Navy December 17, 1958. December 6, 1959, zoom climb to world record altitude 98,557 feet (30,048 meters). Armed with missiles only; no gun. F-4H-1F, (F-4A) F-4H-1, (F-4B), F-4G “G” was the Navy version with Automatic Approach Compensation, i.e. carrier auto-land. (Later returned to F-4B configuration.) F-4C/D Air Force version originally designated F-110A. The “D” had upgraded avionics. (Could be fitted with external gun pod.) F4E Advanced/improved version with internal machine gun. F-4EJ Japanese Air Force, Manufactured by Mitsubishi, 154 built. F-4F Specialized version for air intercepts; flown only by the German Luftwaffe. F-4J Navy/Marine version of the “E-model.” F-4K was the British Royal Navy’s Phantom with Roll Royce Spey engines and adjustable nose gear strut. F-4M British Royal Air…

Eighty years ago this May, Operation Chastise, more commonly known as the “Dams Raid,” took its place in military history. Flying at ultra-low-level, at night, a few RAF Lancaster crews successfully breached two major dams, the Möhne and the Eder, in the heart of Germany. The incredible story of the raid, executed by a newly formed RAF squadron flying specially modified Avro Lancaster bombers, is well-known to those with an interest in military aviation, and the extraordinary feat of arms carried out by the “Dambusters” has become legendary. To commemorate the 80th anniversary of the raid, this is the story of just one of those who did not return, with the details related in the words of one of his crew members who miraculously survived. The “Dams Raid” On May…

This wartime photograph, still with its “Secret” marking visible, shows an Upkeep bomb or mine mounted on 617 Squadron Lancaster Type 464 ED932 AJ-G. This was the aircraft flown by 617 Squadron’s CO Wing Commander Guy Gibson, VC DSO and Bar DFC and Bar on Operation Chastise—the “Dams Raid”—on May 16-17, 1943. He led the operation and was awarded the Victoria Cross. This ingenious and remarkable weapon that made the Dams Raid possible weighed 9,250 pounds and contained 6,600 pounds of Torpex high explosive. It was spun backward at 500 rpm before release and had to be dropped 475 yards from the dam at exactly 232 mph and at 60 feet! It skipped across the water until hitting the dam wall. It then sunk with its spinning motion keeping it…

May 16, 2257 hours. Lancaster ED934 AJ-K, captained by Pilot Officer Vernon Byers, RCAF shot down by flak coasting in over the Dutch island of Texel. Crew of seven all killed. May 16, 2350 hours. Lancaster ED927 AJ-E, captained by Flight Lieutenant “Norm” Barlow, RAAF flew into electricity cables and crashed near Haldern, Germany. Crew of seven all killed. May 17, 0015 hours. Lancaster ED864 AJ-B, captained by Flight Lieutenant Bill Astell, flew into electricity cables and crashed near Marbeck, Germany. Crew of seven all killed. May 17, 0033 hours. Lancaster ED925 AJ-M, captained by Flight Lieutenant John “Hoppy” Hopgood, shot down by flak on the attack run against the Möhne dam, crashed three miles away. Five killed; two POWs. May 17, 0153 hours. Lancaster ED865 AJ-S, captained by Pilot…